“Well, now I want to hit him,” I said. “You know it’s not your fault.”
“I know. I still wish I could have stopped it, but I know I’m not to blame, and that just hit me the wrong way. I’m sorry I let my temper get the best of me. I don’t want you to be disappointed in me.”
“I’m not,” I said, waving him closer. “Kiss me.”
He took the suggestion and kissed me with so much passion that my toes curled. I hoped the polish was dry, but even if it wasn’t, it was worth it.
“Stay with me?”
“Of course. I don’t have anywhere else I’d rather be.”
Just when he kissed me again, we heard a deep sound as Dr. Samson, who took out my spleen, cleared his throat. “Pardon me,” he said. “Your sister said it was okay to come in.”
Clara peeked around from behind him, giving a little wave. “Sorry,” she whispered. I could tell she didn’t mean it.
“I thought I’d come and check you out, see how you’re recovering. I think you’re going to like the news I have.” He gave me a sly look. “I’m going to release you tomorrow morning. So you only have one night left in our fine establishment.”
“Thank you,” I said. My eyes filled with tears.
“I’ll let Mom and Dad know I’ll get you home tomorrow,” said Clara, stepping away. “Thank you, doctor.” She left the room, and Dr. Samson looked through the folder in his hands. “I’m going to give you a painkiller, but I trust that you can manage that on your own.”
“Is it strong? I don’t want anything too strong.” I hated putting anything that could be harmful into my system.
“You’ve had a lot of trauma,” said the doctor. “It’s best to take it for the first few days, and you can switch to ibuprofen or something milder. And no strenuous activities, no lifting, no driving, no exercise until you’re released at your first follow-up.”
“I’ll make sure she’s taking it easy,” said Seth.
“Good. It sounds like she has a lot of people watching over her. I’ll just hand this in, and when you wake up tomorrow, you can go.”
“Thank you,” I said again. When Dr. Samson left, I pulled Seth back in for another kiss.
“You heard you have to take it easy,” he said.
“Uh huh, but I can still kiss you.” I wasn’t about to give that up for anything.
Soon, Clara and Abi came back into the room. “I’ve got you all set,” said my sister. “And I’ve just about talked Abi here into moving in with you. She said you mentioned it.”
“Yeah, that’s cool. I really hope you do.”
“We’ll talk again when you’re better,” said Abi. “Take care of yourself, and use the time alone to rest and heal. And keep the polish. It looks better on you than me anyway.” She placed the bottle on the table. “I should be going.”
Abi held out her arms for a hug, and I obliged. “Thanks for coming to see me,” I said. “Come by the apartment and see me when I get settled in.”
“Will do.” She said her goodbyes to the others and she waved and walked out the door.
“She seems really fun,” said Clara. “I hope she moves in.”
“Yeah,” I said, thinking about what she had told me. I didn’t tell Clara because it wasn’t my story to tell, but hopefully, if she took me up on my invitation, things would work out fine for both of us.
We sat and visited as I ate my dinner, and eventually, Seth got up and went to get something for himself after I begged him to eat.
I hated to see him down.
When he got back, he was on the phone. “Okay, thanks for calling,” he said when he got off the phone. “That was Paul. He said they won the game. He made the final score, and Coach was okay.”
“Good.”
“Yeah, I guess I have to go talk to him. I’m lucky he didn’t have me arrested for assault. God knows there were enough witnesses.”
I didn’t realize it had been that brutal of a hit. “Do you think he’d do that?” I didn’t want Seth to be in trouble at school, either. If they arrested him for it, they might even expel him.
“Nah, he’s got too much pride, but there might not be anything I can do to stay on the team.”
Clara took a sip through her straw and shook her head. “It’s only one game, right? It could be worse.”
“Yeah,” said Seth. “But what sucks is I’m the reason we made it to the playoffs. I played like a beast this year, and I put up with a lot of bullshit from everyone over Avery and me. They caused me more problems, and I did them more favors. That’s for sure.”
“Maybe Coach Carr will see the error of his ways and go easy on you.”
“Yeah, well, Paul did tell me that a lot of the guys were upset, saying Coach was the one who went too far, and they don’t blame me. But the other half, the ones who I always have trouble with, they’ll never see it that way. One of them has been gunning for my position as team captain all season. I guess he’ll get one game of glory.”
“That’s not fair,” I said.
Seth smiled. “I appreciate that you care, but you have healing to do. Let’s change the subject and talk about something that’s not so upsetting to you.”
“I got my toes painted,” I said, pointing to my feet.
“Looks like she missed a couple of toes,” he said with a chuckle.
Abi had stopped to leave Seth and me alone when he arrived, and she had left two of my toes unpainted. “Well, at least she left me the polish.”
“Here,” said Seth. “I’ll paint them for you.” He took the bottle of polish and opened it. “I’m not going to make any promises, but at least they’ll be special, right?”
“The most special toes ever.”
Clara rolled her eyes. “You two are worse than Dillon and me. And on that note, I’m going to run home, feed my man, grab another change of clothes, and I’ll be right back up. You two behave and remember this isn’t a motel room, okay?”
“Yes, Mom,” said Seth, who was having trouble keeping the polish where it needed to be.
Clara shook her head but didn’t say another word as she left us there.
“Now we’re all alone,” I said with an insinuating tone.
“Oh no, you’re not getting me in trouble.” Seth put the last bit of polish on my toe and closed the polish. “Besides, you can’t mess up this work of art.”
I glanced down to find he had done a fairly decent job, but now he had some polish on his own nail from correcting his mistakes.
“You’re not going to be easy on me about this recovery, are you?”
“Nope, not even a little. You’re just going to have to be okay with that.”
I had never felt so loved.
Chapter 22
Seth
The next day, I was looking forward to seeing Avery outside of the hospital. Seeing her lying in that bed made her look so tiny and frail, and I was used to my strong girl who was healthy and vibrant. As soon as I got the messages that she was home and settled in, I headed over. When I arrived just after noon time, I walked into the apartment to find Avery being a bad patient.